[willowz]

AL East


Boston (97-65) -- The ten-year tenure as the AL East's second best came to an end in 2006 as Boston finally climbed atop the regular season mountain as the Yankees dwindled in Cashman's final year as their general manager. Statistically, all the key players were the contributors in the Red Sox second championship effort in three seasons, with some of the major acquisitions being the cornerstones of the new look of the franchise, which again made Theo Epstein look like a genius. Josh Beckett, for instance, went 18-7 with a 3.49 ERA in his opening campaign with the Sox, while Schilling slowed with age but didn't completely fall off the charts, at 15-8 with a 4.00 ERA. Youngster Thomas Hottovy also saw some significant action in 2006, but only went 2-4 with a 6+ ERA. Keith Foulke has turned into a pedestrian middle reliever it seems, and Julian Tavarez was not much better, attracting 5 wins with a 3.49 mark. John Papelbon simmered and then ran out of steam in 2006, saving 38 ballgames, but doing so with a 3.31 earned run average.


The Red Sox didn't seem to miss David Ortiz too much in the playoffs, who's season ended after a devastating torn thigh muscle. He and Manny Ramirez were usual suspects however in 2006, as Ortiz hit .312 with 43 HR, 142 RBI, 121 R. A type of season that is outstanding even for him. Ramirez wasn't far behind, going with .321, 39 HR, 111 RBI, 112 R. Wily Mo Pena also put up 36 HR while hitting a nudge over .280, and Coco Crisp hit .297 over 441 at-bats.


Toronto (90-72) – Great scott! The AL East has landed the Wild Card, and it doesn't belong to the Yankees or Red Sox? That's right, for the first time in who knows how long, two (two!) teams stood atop New York in the AL East, and the credit goes to J.P. Riccardi and the Blue Jays, who's philosophy for much of the last decade has assisted them in doing what a low-budget team needs to do: rebuild, rebuild, rebuild. While Toronto's playoff run was short, and yes, sweet, the taste of October baseball is enticing enough to probably make this team invest in its near future instead of it's distant one. Roy Halladay will likely be apart of that near future, and another banner year by arguably the league's best pitcher was put up in 2006, posting a 23-8 mark with a 2.41 ERA. The starting pitching for this team was pretty shallow beyond that, with Ted Lilly (4.33) and A.J. Burnett (5.08) posting the two next most ambitious efforts. The Jays had seemingly no production from their bullpen aside from BJ Ryan (38 SV, 2.95 ERA)


Hitting wise, Vernon Wells led the team in smacks, with 32, but posted a disappointing .250 batting average. The team batting crown in 2006 belonged instead to Alex Rios (.340), who was the most impressive of a ball club of slightly above average players. Shea Hillenbrand had an impressive comeback season, hitting .296 with a dozen bombs, and Lyle Overbay faired okay also, hitting .279 and clearing the basepaths 13 times.


New York (85-77) – Ah yes, Cashman's baseball labors no longer bear fruit, and his reign is over. The first non-playoff season for the Yankees since 1994, 2006 was upsy and downsy. On the mound, well, what do you expect to read? Sub-par at best, as Chieng Mien Wang was the best pitcher, I suppose, if anything related to good can be used to describe this rotation, as he went 16-12 with a 4.48 ERA. Randy Johnson won the most games at 18, but showed his age even more in '06, just over 5. Questions are now abound if Mike Mussina is done also, with a near 6 era and 20 (count them), that's right, 20 losses. For the record, Carl Pavano spent the entirety of the year on the DL, and some maybe wished Jaret Wright WASN'T healthy, (8-13, 6.03 ERA). Scott Proctor had an impressive season in the pen, with 35 appearances and a 2.42 ERA. Beyond that the pickings were pretty slim, but old reliable continues to be, well, old, and reliable, Mariano Rivera, having another possible career benchmark season at 36 years of age, saving 47 ballgames and posting a nearly visible 0.82 ERA.


So offensively it was all the usual suspects, with Jeter and Sheffield leading the way, Jeter hitting .323 with a handful of blasts as 114 runs. Sheffield was, for a brief time, in the running for MVP by posting .313, 39 HR, 113 RBI, but there are simply too many players putting up banner years. Johnny Damon's line with his first year with 'the enemy'?, .302, 28 doubles, 65 stolen bases, but remarkably only 88 runs. Giambi hit 34 bombs, but is back hitting .249 again, and Posada was even worse at .241.


Baltimore (78-84)-- Ah Baltimore: There still has to be a loveable loser in the AL East, even in my world. On the bright side, the team has some things to look forward to, like seeing Bruce Chen back in a uniform in 2007, and his 2006 campaign was relatively impressing, at 17-12 with a 3.42 ERA. Kris Benson was below average, winning 13 and allowing runs at a 4.85 rate. Chris Ray was solid in the bullpen with a 3.39 posting, but the same old story – there wasn't much pitching beyond those three.


Miguel Tejada led the charge again, hitting .300 with 36 blasts and 107 RBI, and Brian Roberts and Kevin Millar were above-decent as well, hitting .291 and .294 respectively. Melvin Mora had more at-bats then anybody except Tejada, but struggled, managing to just hit .254, and Jay Gibbons couldn't break the .260 mark either, at a .259 pace. There is some positivity on the horizon also though, as youngster Brad Snyder hit .319 in a short season, just under 300 at bats, and Luis Matos, still a few years shy of 30, hit .321 in just under 400 AB's.




Tampa Bay (59-103) – Hi Tampa Bay. You suck – apparently a lot in the mind of OOTP. 59 wins is a relatively impressive accomplishment, impressively bad, even for this ball club. It's the same old story though: A sore lack of pitching, as Scott Kazmir may be the only one worth a dime, going 6-12, 4.38. Jason Hammel was the only other guy below 5, at 4.94. Nothing much to speak of out in the bullpen, some 6+'s, even some 8+'s, though Brian Meadows managed to be pretty impressive amidst the mess, with a 2.92 ERA and a handful of saves.


Rocco Baldelli hit .316, knocked in 100 runs, Carl Crawford hit .306, knocked in 12 less, and beyond that there's wasn't too much to talk about. Delmon Young managed to stay out of trouble, and hit over .300 in my world, and BJ Upton fell just short of that mark, hitting .290 with 14 HR.


AL CENTRAL


Chicago (91-71) – It's true what they say about sequels: never quite as good as the original. The White Sox were the AL Central winners in 2006 but fell short of their repeat effort due to some tough breaks in the playoffs. The team's pitching in '06 ended up being a little more pedestrian than their previous campaign, as Freddy Garcia led the way with a 3.27 era and 17 wins. Jose Contreras was not alike his current real-life counterpart, as he posted a 4.00 ERA and 16 wins. Jon Garland had 17 W's alongside Garcia, but his ERA was less impressive at 4.44. The pedestrian earned run averages of the starter's gave the White Sox much talked of bullpen a little more work in 2006, and under that pressure Cliff Politte and Dustin Hermanson we less impressive, with a 4.86 and a 6.45 ERA respectively. Boone Logan, a youngster in the pen, faired the best of all the middle relievers, with 4 wins and a 3.91 ERA. Bobby Jenks was solid as the closer, saving 47 with a 2.50 ERA.


Hitting wise, Tadahito Iguchi and OF prospect Jerry Owens were impressive, both hitting north of .310 with a handful of bombs. Paul Konerko hit .270 with 32 homers, but surprisingly Jim Thome struggled mightily, hitting just .239 with only 22 HR. Jermaine Dye was maybe the most balanced player on the team, with .284 and over 20 homers, he also knocked in and scored 90 runs.


Minnesota (85-77) – Ah, to be young and average. The recent curse of the Minnesota Twins franchise, who cracked .500 again but again didn't go much farther than that, fading and sputtering down the stretch to a respectable but expected finish. Johan Santana is anything but average, however, and put up another bannner year in 2006 with 13 wins and a 3.03 ERA. Carlos Silva was the real story of the staff however, as he put up his first 20-win season with a respectable 3.58 ERA, and obviously an even more respectable run support. Joe Nathan was good in the pen, with 37 successful closes and a 2.59 ERA, while the middle relievers were pretty run-of-the-mill, aside from Juan Rincon who was pretty good, 3-1, 3.22 ERA.


Lots of high averages but not a lot of high power totals for the Twins team, as Torii Hunter probably put up the overall best year, hitting .294 with 21 blasts. Justin Morneau led the team with 37, but hit just a shade over .250, and Luis Castillo was the most consistent base-hitter on the team with a .344 batting average. Young third basemen Evan Longoria had a fantastic rookie season, hitting .309 in a little over 200 AB's. How did Joe Mauer do, you ask? Not bad. .303, 12 bombs – probably the best hitting catcher in the bigs.




Detroit (81-81) – The Tigers, for once, weren't below .500! They weren't above .500 either! They were .500 exactly! For this Detroit team, Nate Robertson led the way with a 4.13 ERA, the lowest on a young young staff. Jeremy Bonderman contributed with a 4.79 ERA, but valuable experience. Kenny Rogers was relatively off the radar, throwing over 5.70, but sticking around at least, all season long. Todd Jones was the most impressive pitcher out of the bullpen, and prospect Joel Zuyama had an impressive year, saving seven games and posting an ERA just south of 3.80.


Placido Polanco hit .322 in over 600 plate appearances, and Pudge Rodriguez continued to curb the trend of the aging catcher by edging out the .300 mark at .301. Brandon Inge was impressive also, hitting .297 with 27 HR, the team high. Magglio Ordonez wasn't bad either, hitting .285 with 22 HR.


Cleveland (75-87) -- There isn't much to say about this Indians team except how remarkably disappointing their season's record appears to make them out to be. The Indians have consistently become, perhaps alongside Baltimore, the premiere underachiever of the American League. Average-achieving was the name of the guy for the Indian rotation, who had 4 starters hovering around the 4.30 benchmark: Cliff Lee, CC Sabathia, Fausto Carmona, Jeremy Sowers. Paul Byrd was the worst of the rotation, with a 5.20+ ERA, but also won the most games ironically enough with 13. Rafael Betancourt was solid as the closer, doing so 22 times successfully with a 2.33 ERA, while youngster Edward Mujica was pretty good in the pen as well (3-1, 3.16). The depth behind that, like seemingly every other team, was not all of that deep, a young Fernando Cabrera was okay (4.52), and there wasn't much else worth speaking of.


Travis Hafner had a fantastic year, hitting .304, going deep 34 times and knocking in 103 runs, while another first basemen, Ben Broussard, was impressive also, with .295, 27 HR, 87 RBI being his numbers. The Indians are apparently hefty in good-hitting first basemen because Eduardo Perez was decent also, hitting .317, but doing so in only 199 AB's. Ron Belliard hit an attractive .333 in over 600 attempts, and Victor Martinez also cleared .300 with over 20 HR.




Kansas City (72-90) – The low to mid-seventies appears to be the Royals watermark for wins in the current MLB, but hopefully the new salary cap will give them a few more victories. Perhaps they can utilize the extra imbalance in the impending free agent market to land a starter or two, because they could certainly use it. Mark Redman was the only one even in the same zip code as average, and that's stretching it, as his ERA was just south of 5, but he did manage to find a way to win 15 games. Zach Greinke didn't have much to write home about in 2006, going 5-5 with a 5.62 ERA. Out in the pen, youngster Andy Cisco had a full season of opportunities, but struggled mightily, and the pen was barely held together by another youngster, who's name is esthetically pleasing, Ambiorix Burgos, (6-9, 4.16 ERA).


Mark Grudzielanek hit .332 for Kansas City, the highest average on the team, while old Reggie Sanders provided the power with 34 blasts. There wasn't much else to write home about for KC, David DeJesus and Emil Brown both did okay, while Angel Berroa hit .283 with 17 4-base smacks.


AL WEST


Los Angeles (100-62) – The Angels brought home the best regular season record, which wasn't too unexpected, as they continue their one-up, one-down year trend. Young Angel Moreno was the best starter they had, as he went 7-3 with a 4.19 ERA in a short season. Bartolo Colon was average but won a lot of games, (19-12, 4.34 ERA), and Jeff Weaver was pretty decent also, (13-7, 4.54 ERA). Jon Lackey won 18 games, but had a 4.78 ERA, and Kelvim Escobar posted the ugliest line at 5 flat. K-Rod saved 40 games, with a 2.89 season, and the middle innings were probably the safest in the American League, with Jason Romero holding a 2.28 ERA, Greg Jones at 3.45, Brandon Donnelly at 4.23, and Scot Shields at 4.35.


Vladimir Guerrero was the AL MVP, and rightfully so, hitting a tremendous .355 with 45 homers and a remarkable 153 runs batted in, also scoring 148 times. Jesus. So naturally it was a little less impressive after that, but young shortstop Brandon Wood hit .306 in limited action, Garrett Anderson hit .296 and went deep 18 times, and Juan Rivera hit .291 and went deep 24.


Texas (87-75) – It appears to finally be coming together in Texas, and they may only be a season away, as they put together an impressive 87 win 2006. Pitching continues to be their big problem as Kevin Millwood had a 4.66 ERA and Kameron Loe led the team with 14 wins and a 4.70 mark. Fransisco Cordero saved 37 ballgames with an ERA shy of 3, while Erasmo Ramirez was good (3.58), and Akinori Otsuka was average (4.30).


The Rangers had plenty of sluggers however, at the ballpark in Arlington, with young Ian Kinsler leading the averages at .314, though Brad Wilkerson was only two points behind, and hit in over a dozen homers. Hank Blalock was good, hitting .286 with 30 HR, Michael Young and Gary Matthews Jr. both had similar seasons, and Mark Teixeira hit over .280 also, with 39 HR and 118 RBI.


Oakland (80-82) – Billy Beane's **** didn't work in the regular season either, for once, as Oakland posted a surprising sub .500 mark led by average-at-best pitching. Barry Zito was the best, with a 3.96 ERA, while Rich Harden was good also, winning 16 games and throwing 4.34. Huston Street's era was over 3 just barely, but he did manage to save 36 ballgames, and Joe Kennedy was good in the pen also, with a 3.81 ERA and a couple of wins.
Eric Chavez was the best hitter Oakland had, hitting .306 with 27 HR but only 89 RBI. Milton Bradley was good also, with a .298 AVG and 18 HR, but also only 79 RBI. The Athletics, in fact, only had two players to knock in over 100, that being Nick Swisher, who hit .276 with 35 bombs and 108 RBI as well as Dan Johnson, of all people, who hit 34 homers in a surprising power surge and led the team by bringing in 125.


Seattle (71-91) – Long gone are the days when the Mariners bullpen was their only problem. Now they can't find many things going right at all. One thing that went decent was Felix Hernandez's first full season in the bigs, going 12-13 with a 3.89 ERA. The pitching beyond him was pretty scarce in terms of quality, Gil Meche was the next best with an ERA approximately 100 points higher and the combo of Joel Pienero and Jarred Washburn was just pretty much, well, bad. Rafael Soriano was okay as the closer with a 2.96 ERA but not that many closes. The middle relief was pretty bad, but George Sherrill was the best Seattle had to offer, going 4.47 in a little over 50 innings.


Ichiro led the regulars in average again, hitting .305, and the most overall production came from Adrian Beltre, who hit .292 with 32 HR and over 100 RBI. Yuniesky Betancourt was good at Shortstop in his rookie year, and also hit .280 with 12 homeruns and 39 stolen bags. Richie Sexson seems to have lost something he may never get back, as he hit only .233 but did circle the basepaths 25 times.


LEAGUE LEADERS


Average
Mike Sweeney; KC, .359
Vladimir Guerrero; LAA, .355
Alex Rios; TOR, .340


HR
Vladimir Guerrero; LAA, 45
David Ortiz; BOS, 43
Manny Ramirez; BOS, 39


Stolen Bases
Johnny Damon; NYY, 65
Scott Podsednik; CHA, 64
Carl Crawford; TB, 63


ERA
Roy Halladay; TOR, 2.41
Johan Santana; MIN, 3.03
Freddy Garcia; CHA, 3.27


WINS
Roy Halladay; TOR, 23
Carlos Silva; MIN, 20
Bartolo Colon; LAA, 19


SAVES
Bobby Jenks; CHA, 47
Mariano Rivera; NYY, 47
Fransisco Rodriguez; LAA, 40


AWARDS
Cy Young – Roy Halladay, TOR
MVP – Vladimir Guerrero, LAA
Rookie of the Year – Jerry Owens, CHA
Gold Glove –
P – Cliff Lee, CLE
C – Benji Molina, TOR
1B – Paul Konerko, CHA
2B – Placido Polanco, DET
3B – Adrian Beltre, SEA
SS – Miguel Tejada, BAL
LF – Carl Crawford, TB
CF – Mark Kotsay, OAK
RF – Ichiro Suzuki, SEA